Gas turbine engines typically include a compressor section, a combustor section and a turbine section. In general, during operation, air is pressurized in the compressor section and is mixed with fuel and burned in the combustor section to generate hot combustion gases. The hot combustion gases flow through the turbine section, which extracts energy from the hot combustion gases to power the compressor section and other gas turbine engine loads.
One potential limiting factor in gas turbine engines may be the efficiency and stability of the compression and turbine systems. Efficiency and stability of an axial compressor may be limited by the engine size and the engine operating conditions. Compressor stall may also be a limiting factor in gas turbine engines. The initiation of a stall may be driven by the tip leakage flow through the tip clearance between an airfoil and the outer diameter of the compressor. Scaling down of a gas turbine engine may result in a relatively larger tip clearance in the compressors and turbines of small-core gas turbine engines. Scaling constraints may cause small-core gas turbine engines to be less efficient relative to larger gas turbine engines.